


The Mad Monk Moro

by ekrolo2



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24705154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ekrolo2/pseuds/ekrolo2
Summary: Some time has passed since the Earth was attacked by Freeza and Broly, and as usual, the peace didn't last long. What starts as a simple adventure between Jaco and Goku escalates into the greatest threat the Earth-raised Saiyan has faced so far. Maybe even ever. To win this time, Goku will have to break his limits like never before.
Relationships: Bulma Briefs/Vegeta, Chi-Chi/Son Goku (Dragon Ball), Videl Satan/Son Gohan
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

The two of them went at each other again for what was the hundredth time, at least. Shouting at the top of their lungs and fists ready to punch, they met in the thick, heavy air and attacked. Goku's punch missed, leaving him exposed for one to hit him in the gut hard enough to knock the wind out of his sails. He forced back a grunt of pain and grabbed his opponent's hand, trying to build up enough momentum to toss the guy far enough away. He could use a little while to charge up a Kamehameha.

Problem was, the guy wouldn't budge. With a power-up, he stayed in-place while Goku grit his teeth, uselessly trying to pull his throw anyway. Even a headbutt didn't do much but break something on Goku's face instead of his. Another hit socked him to the side of the face so hard Goku didn't see anything but pure white in his eyes. Somehow, his body managed to move well enough on his own to dodge the next few punches and kicks. Goku felt pretty good about that for a second before the tail snapped the air in-half and blew him away with a hit to the chest.

"A few lucky dodges aren't Ultra Instinct!"

"Ugh... I know!" Goku shouted back and with a kiai, powered up enough to stop flailing through the air. His sparring partner was on him right away, Goku barely managed to block the first few strikes before powering himself up even higher past the limits of Super Saiyan Blue. The fresh burst of power made him forget about how badly his head hurt, the throbbing across his chest, and the ache of his muscles and let Goku land a solid uppercut.

But just as Goku prepared to attack again, a spasm went through his whole right arm, from knuckles to shoulder. It froze, stuck in-place no matter how much he tried to make it move. That's when he got a kick to the stomach, an elbow to the nose, and a whole barrage of quick strikes that looked more like a million blurs flashing in front of his eyes. Goku would've been able to power on through, keep it together but his body was pushed too far. The spasms spread across his whole body when his concentration broke and pretty soon, he was nothing but a floating punching bag.

A sweeping kick to the left side of his face knocked him down, sending him crashing helplessly against the planet Whis made for them to rest on. Goku's landing sent another wave of pain through his whole body, the crater he left on impact must've been huge. Super Saiyan Blue dropped, it was too much for him to keep up. He couldn't do much more than just lie there, breathing in and out and wincing every time he did it.

But he had to force himself back up, absolutely had to. It didn't matter he felt like a wreck, ready to fall to pieces any second now. It didn't matter most of his ki was gone and he was running on the last fumes he still had. It didn't matter they'd been fighting for what must've been hours, maybe even a whole day, all out from the start and not letting up for a second.

Which was exactly the plan, a plan they couldn't pull off if he stayed lying down. So, Goku grit his teeth and through sheer willpower shouted at the top of his lungs and forced his tired, beaten, and spazzing out body to get the hell up. He pulled it off, sort of. His legs wouldn't budge an inch from where he jumped back up, his arms limply swayed right and left, dangling off his shoulders, and his back was bent.

At least it was better than being a sitting duck on the ground. That was what Goku thought, anyway and soon enough saw how right he was. Because just a few moments later, from the other side of the mist, a wave of some of the biggest ki he'd ever felt exploded and blasted the air thick with God ki away. From the center of the power, glowing all in purple, Beerus grinned and shouted again, thrusting his arms and letting rip first a few, then a dozen and finally thousands of ki blasts right at Goku.

"... Good... He's not lettin' up..." Goku laughed, appreciating Beerus a whole lot even when basic fighting sense would've told him to run away. But he wouldn't, instead, he reached into whatever scraps of power left inside and stood his ground. This was it, do, or die. The moment they'd been trying to reach since the start. Goku on his last legs and Beerus coming at him with the intent to kill.

That was the point, that was the only way he'd be able to get Ultra Instinct back. Not just because Goku wanted it, that was just a lot of the reason why. There was no other way he could win the real fight waiting for him out there without it. It was the only way for them all to not get killed by Moro.

* * *

**A few days ago, Earth, Satan City...**

Goku yawned for the fifth time from the driver's seat. Jaw pressed against his palm, elbow resting on an open window and the sounds of honking cars, motorcycles, and other trucks behind, and in front of him; he was pretty bored of being stuck in a traffic jam. After getting all the fruit he'd made in the plot of land they'd gotten years ago, Goku was gonna drive it off to sell at one of the markets outside the big cities. He'd been going there for a while, selling and buy stuff from lots of people. But Chi-Chi told him to try Satan City, that they could sell their stuff better in a place with more people around.

That's how he ended up there, stuck in-between rows of other just as stuck people too. A lot of them were bored too from what he could tell but lots more were really, really angry. Shouting for anyone up ahead to move their sorry butts already and a whole bunch of nastier stuff he'd get in trouble at home for repeating. Goku thought about just grabbing the truck and flying it over the jam to where the market was but decided not to. Last time he flew with his tractor over a town, a million people freaked out and even called the cops on him.

So there he sat, wondering when things were going to get moving again when the explosion happened. He'd heard enough of those to recognize another. Everyone else shut up for a second before they started yelling in a panic, lots of the people on the street even ran away when the smoke went up. Goku? His eyes finally stopped feeling heavy, especially when he sensed some weird ki from where the boom went off.

"Hehehe, let's see what's goin' on there!" In a second, Goku was out of the driver's set and right at the stairway to the bank. He was was one of the three only people there. Besides him, there was a weird porcupine looking guy with an ugly mug and fanged teeth in an orange jumpsuit, the ki Goku locked on was from him and coming off his glowing right hand. The guy he was aiming the attack on was what took Goku by surprise.

"J-Jaco?" Goku said, only now noticing the little space cop. "Is that you, what're you doin' here?"

"Goku?! Great! Just the guy I was hoping to see!" Quick," Jaco switched from his fighting pose and rushed to Goku's side, pointing a finger at the porcupine. "Beat him up for me!"

"Huh?! What for?!"

"Shimorekka's an escaped convict, obviously! Can't you tell from his jumpsuit?!"

"How am I supposed t'know what space crooks wear?"

"This is the guy you were hoping to see?" Porcupine or Shimorekka said, laughing in an annoying, nasally voice. "Looks like some lousy farmer to me! You woulda been better off callin' for Jiya!"

The ki blast he'd been holding flew from his hand and right into Goku's face. Goku himself felt nothing at all, except maybe a light breeze from it going off. Shimorekka, who probably couldn't sense ki like a lot of folks from space, just laughed even harder, thinking he'd won. By the time the tiny smoke cloud vanished, he wasn't laughing anymore.

"O-Oh... A-A tough guy I see... W-Well, no matter! I'll still kick yer-" Goku's forehead finger poke knocked him right out.

"Awesome!" Jaco shouted, fist-bumping the air over and over. "I knew I could count on you, Goku!"

"Uh, sure," Goku said, scratching the back of his head and watching Jaco put some space handcuffs on the porcupine-looking crook. "So, mind tellin' me why this guy was on Earth?"

"It's official Galactic Patrol business but, uff," Jaco huffed, putting Shimorekka over his shoulder. "You did help me out so I'll tell you."

The bank on fire suddenly exploded again, sending a million pieces of glass all over the place and looking like it might collapse any minute. Far away, Goku could hear firefighter and police sirens all over the place and getting closer.

"... Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else?"

"Yeah... That seems like a good idea..."

A few minutes later, Goku and Jaco met up in the forest outside of Satan City. Goku zipped back over to his truck and brought it over to the spot where Jaco parked his spaceship at. In what, to Goku anyway, looked like the trunk of the ship but Jaco said it wasn't, he threw the space crook inside after gagging him too and sealed it up.

"There, that'll keep him," Jaco said, wiping his hands. "So, you were wondering why a nefarious fiend like Shimorekka was on Earth?"

"Yeah, I mean, aliens come here all the time but they usually wanna fight me. Sometimes Satan. But not t'rob banks as far as I can remember."

"The situation out in the galaxy is very dangerous these days. A while ago, some unidentified pair of purple and green objects came outta nowhere and blew a whole bunch of planets up. None of them were inhabited so if that was all that got destroyed we probably wouldn't care."

Goku could guess what they were but decided Jaco didn't need to know about Broly and Beerus' space fight.

"Unfortunately, one of the things that got smashed was a super-secret prison facility housing the most dangerous criminals in all of the universes! Thieves, cutthroats, dine dashers with debts reaching into the seven-digit range! The worst scum the universe has to offer!"

"Wow, really?" Goku asked before an idea came to him. "Hey, are any of these guys strong?"

"Strong? Oh yeah," Jaco bobbed his head up and down, crossing his arms. "The Galactic Patrol's had no shortage of problems with them, even super elites like me can't take them down easy."

"Oh... So they aren't that strong..."

"N-Now wait just a minute! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Well, spiky was a chump and if he's supposed to be a dangerous crook then the rest of em can't be a big deal."

"S-Shows what you know!" Jaco shouted. "I can think of one guy who'd give even you a run for your money!"

Goku smiled right away. "Really? Who is he, can you take me to em?!"

"That's none of your-" Jaco stopped mid-shout and just stared, Goku was about to ask him what's wrong when suddenly, his whole attitude changed. A smile spread across his face, it was just a little creepy. "Actually... It might be your business. You wanna fight this guy? Well, why don't you agree to be my deputy!"

"Deputy?"

"Uhuh, see, super elites such as myself have the power to grant anyone, even ordinary citizens a temporary rank within the Galactic Patrol! You'd be my deputy and I'd be your boss."

"Couldn't you just take me to fight this guy without this deputy stuff?"

"Nope, I've already bent the rules enough by telling you a bunch of stuff you're not supposed to know. You wanna find Seventhree? You work for me!"

"Well, I guess that's alright. So long as I don't gotta wear that goofy outfit of yours."

"What?!" Jaco shrieked, reeling back like Goku just slapped him in the face. "What do you mean? My uniform is just fine!"

"I guess the headphones look cool but I dunno, purple's not really my thing."

"That's not my uniform! That's my skin!"

"What?! You mean yer walking' around with your junk out?! What's with all you space people bein' naked?"

"The Galactic King and I are not naked! I've got boots, gloves, and armor and he's got his crown! Now, are you gonna agree to help me or not?"

"Sure thing! I've been itchin' t'fight someone besides Vegeta these days. In-fact," Goku smiled cheekily. "Let's keep this between us, okay?"

"Suits me just fine, guy creeps me out and if people see him walking around with Freeza Force armor they're liable to panic."

"Great, now, just gimme half an hour and we can go!"

"Huh? Why can't we go right now?"

"Gotta sell the fruit in my truck," Goku pointed a thumb at it. "That way, I can leave some money on the table, and Chi-Chi won't get as mad at me when I sneak off-planet with you!"

"Sounds like you got lots of experience with this kind of thing."

"Hehehe, yup!"

Half an hour later, Goku came back, leaving his farming getup and truck behind while getting his dog. He lucked out, Chi-Chi went over to Gohan's to see little Pan and with Goten over at Bulma's, he didn't have to sneak around. It was a good thing too because the last time he did this, Chi-Chi, somehow, almost caught him even though he didn't make a peep. He'd get an earful anyway but that was a small price to pay for a good fight. Before going back to Jaco, though, he paid a visit to Karin and got a couple of senzu beans, just-in-case things got dicey.

Jaco must've been tossing rocks in the meantime, Goku teleported back to him mid-throw while he was aiming at a dented tree nearby.

"Hey! It's me!"

"Ack!" He spazzed out, tossing the rock in such a way it ricocheted off the side of one tree, then another and a last, third one before smacking Jaco in the side of the head. A girlish sounding yelp came out of him and he almost keeled over, holding the bruised spot.

"D-Damnit! Don't sneak up on me like that! Oof, forget it,..." Jaco rubbed his head some more and stood back up. "You got everything you need?"

"Yep! I'm ready t'take this Seventhree guy on!"

"Hold your horses there, first we gotta get a dispatch about his location."

"Huh? Can't I just feel his energy out?"

"I dunno, can you? He's kind of a robot, some biomechanical monster made a few years ago."

"A robot huh," Goku crossed his arms, looking up to the clear sky overhead. Closing his eyes, he tried to search out for any big ki out there in the universe, after all, Jaco said this guy was good enough to fight him. But just like Goku assumed, this Seventhree was like 17 and 18: either he couldn't be detected or was keeping his power hidden for now.

"Dang it, I was really hoping t'fight im on now... And I can't call up Whis fer help, him and Beerus are away in Universe 6..."

"Please don't bring a Hakaishin into this... Look, Seventhree's programmed for two things: seeking out interesting lifeforms and causing havoc. He's already attacked one planet and there's no doubt about it he'll hit another. Why don't we go around, nabbing some of the other escaped convicts in the meantime? Who knows, maybe you'll get a good fight out of them too?"

"... Well, I guess I could try. Oh!" Goku smiled when an idea popped into his head. "Maybe Seventhree'll sense my power and come after us instead?"

"Only a Saiyan could say that with such enthusiasm..."


	2. Chapter 2

"Yello? This is Galaxy renowned thief, expert safecracker, and despised loiterer Pasta Macareni. Whom do I honor by giving a chance to speak to me?"

"You know damn well who it is!" The voice from the otherwise of the phone shouted so loudly Pasta had to move it away from his ear.

"Commish! Been a while since we talked, how're my kids doing?"

"Your money, you filthy degenerate, is on the way!"

"Now, now, there's no need for name-calling," Pasta said in a cooling tone of voice, pushing his foot against the nearby desk and lifting the chair just enough off the ground for it to sway back and forth. In one hand was the phone, in the other a six-round laser shooter, spinning in intricate circle patterns between all of his fingers. "Once we have the cash, we'll be outta your way and you'll get the kid back."

"You better be telling the truth, Macareni. Because if you aren't I'll hunt you to the ends of the uni-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," Pasta slammed the wireless phone down into the charger. With the forward momentum of his body, he slammed the legs of the chair back onto the floor and practically jumped out of it. Still twirling his six-shooter, Pasta whistled a tune and walked away from the center of the decrepit third story house to one of the many windows giving them an overhead view of the cops, reporters, and overly curious bystanders surrounding the place.

There were dozens of them, flashing their cameras all over the damn place, especially when he came into the view and stood next to his sister Penne. Taller than youngest one of their trio but still a good two heads shorter than Pasta, Penne scanned the crowd with laser precision, eyes taking in everything with much more detail than he'd ever been able to pick up and hands clutching at an energy rifle which they all knew she was fast enough to whip out before someone shot at her first.

And there were many, many among the local security force who'd want a piece of them. In other circumstances, they'd have opened fire already but when you've got a hostage, particularly the baby of a prominent city official, well, even the itchiest trigger finger will go scratch its owners behind than pull a risky opening shot to disaster. And so, the fairly stocky, round-headed, and beady-eyed little inhabitants were stuck until the Macareni Gang got its cash.

"You getting bored?"

"A little," Penne yawned without closing her eyes or putting a hand over her mouth. "I still say we should've gone for the train heist. This kidnapping stuff's just been sitting on our butts for hours now."

"Patience, little sis. We'll be getting back to the exciting stuff when we get some more cash in the bank. Besides, we've never done a hostage exchange before, and the yokels'll pay us good for the brat."

"Speaking of brats, I noticed ours did something to make the whining little money ticket shut up already."

To say the kid whined would be an understatement. He could not and would not shut up under any circumstances ever since they broke into the mayor's house and snatched the little girl right from under a series of security systems as useless as they were expensive. Changing diapers? Didn't work. Offering it something to eat? Forget about it. Offering to let it play with an empty pistol or rifle? Ha, good one. But in the past ten or so minutes, the baby finally quieted down once Ghetti's turn to watch him came around.

"Yeah, I noticed that too... I better go see what Ghetti's done to pull it off."

Penne mumbled a "Sure" and went back to watching for anyone brave and/or stupid enough to open a salvo. Pasta left the living room and crossed a short hallway to what must've been a bedroom to whatever saps punished themselves to resort in this dump where every step made the wood creak and something nasty seemed to crawl through the million holes in the walls, ceiling, and floor.

The closer he got the bedroom, the more he could hear that the baby wasn't quiet exactly. The noise it was making was just happy instead of turd dropping terrified. She was giggling and laughing... And so was Ghetti. Not wanting to screw up whatever his little brother pulled off, Pasta just peeked through one of the aforementioned holes and noticed the girl sitting on the floor and Ghetti kneeling opposite her.

He kept putting the palms of his hand over his face, asking the baby "Where did the nice man go" before moving them away and saying "Here he is!" It was dumb but it worked. The kid ate it up, laughing every time like it was the first. It probably helped Ghetti made a new, dumb face every single time to spice it up a little. And Penne said no girl would ever like his dumb mug.

Quietly moving away from the door, Pasta smiled at the thought of proving her wrong when suddenly the shrill of a freshly turned on voice broadcaster cut through the relative silence of the house. The sound, as always, was so grating Pasta felt his hair stand on end and sure enough, the girl was back to bawling her eyes thanks to whatever Galactic Patrol moron decided to show up.

There was no mistake it was Galactic Patrol either, Pasta had been on the receiving end of enough of their crap to recognize the noise immediately before whatever cop using it spoke. Gritting his teeth, Pasta rushed back to the windows and sure enough, saw a Galactic Patrol ship hovering on even ground with the third story. On top of it, holding the broadcaster, was a purple-skinned little midget with yellow eyes. Next to him, some spiky-haired, bored-looking weirdo in a yellowish outfit resting his chin in his hands.

"Macareni Gang!" The Patrolman spoke with a high pitched, whiny sounding voice that made Pasta and Penna both want to shoot him immediately. "As per Article 37-B of the Galactic Law, you are hereby accused of kidnapping, hostaging, and escape from Galactic Prison! Surrender now or face severe punishment from a super-elite!"

"Have you ever seen this guy before, bro?"

"Nah, he's just some blowhard grunt. If he actually thought he could beat us, he'd be kicking down the door already."

"Well?" He shrilled again. "Will you comply or will this have to get ugly?"

"Oh no, no officer!" Pasta shouted, sounding very concerned. "We'll definitely turn ourselves over to a super-elite... As soon as one shows up!"

"O-Oh you think you're so clever huh?! We'll see how clever you are when you're back in prison! Goku, do your thing!"

"Yeah... Alright..." The weirdo said, standing up and letting out a big yawn along with a body stretch. Penne must've thought it the perfect target because her hand whipped out and opened fire right for his uvula. The shot never hit, because the guy called Goku disappeared before it was even halfway through the sky.

"W-What the-"

"Jaco lied t'me again..." Pasta and Penne turned around and snapped their guns in the direction of the voice. Sure enough, it was the same Goku guy, just standing there with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. "He told me you were some big shots but yer just chumps."

"C-Chumps," The two of them stammered out, wondering if this guy was for real. How could he possibly call them chumps?! They'd been an unstoppable crime trio for over 15 years! They'd been robbing honest folks and crooks blind before they hit puberty, made the Galactic Patrol look like idiots, and needed an actual team of super-elite Patrolmen to get caught.

Without even batting an eye, Pasta snapped his pistol while Penne did the same with her rifle and both pointed square at Goku's head. The blasts hit this time and even a single one at full capacity would've been enough to vaporize his head. Instead of doing that, this Goku character just kept standing there, without so much as a scratch anywhere.

The last thing Pasta remembered before everything went black and he woke up three days later in the temporary prison facility was Ghetti's voice calling out to him and Penne from the back of the room just before Goku's fists socked them both in the face.

* * *

"Nice work Goku!" Jaco said, smiling from ear to ear as he hauled the unconscious and tied up Macareni Gang across the stone floor toward his parked ship. With a single huff and a swing of his arms, the Patrolman tossed them into the trunk along with the seven other arrests he'd made in just the past hour alone. Well, technically Goku did most of the work but Jaco deputized him so most of the credit would officially go to him.

Lots of credit would mean lots of benefits too. Higher pay, a new ship, maybe even a promotion, and hopefully, one day, he could go on vacation again. This time without a tsunami showing up out of nowhere and ruining it for him like last time... But that was that moment, this was now. And now was a time of great possibilities indeed.

"I knew bringing you along was a good idea-"

"I think I'm gonna go home now."

"W-What?!" Turning around with a yelp, Jaco's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when he noticed Goku placing two fingers on his forehead. He rushed in there, desperate for him not to teleport away. "W-Wait! D-Don't go!"

"I like helpin' you save people and all Jaco, but I signed up to take on Seventhree. All this other stuff you can take care of without me."

"Wow, you really have that much faith in my skills?"

"Well yeah, my little Pan could beat the guys we've nabbed no problem."

Stopping for a second to recall what a Pan was, Jaco distinctly remembered some short-black haired girl on the sidelines of the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament with a kid, no, a baby she kept calling by that name.

"Hold on a minute, are you saying I'm only as strong as a baby?!"

"She's probably tougher," Goku said with the kind of brazen matter of factness only a man without a care could use. "But don't feel too bad, Saiyan hybrids come out pretty darn strong nowadays. Anyway, I gotta get back home, might even do it before Chi-Chi even figures out I left fer space."

"B-But what about Seventhree?" Jaco said, practically hugging onto Goku's leg in a vain attempt to keep him there. "D-Don't you want to fight him?!"

"Well I can't find im yet and your guys can't either so why don'tcha just call me when he shows up and I'll take im on then?"

"B-Because!... Uhh... We're slow... Remember? You said so yourself! Our ships can't fly as fast as you, much less teleport. Seventhree could destroy an entire planet before anyone could even manage to reach out for you!"

"We've got lots of Dragon Balls so they'd just come back. Sides, I've been thinkin' it over and I'm pretty sure Seventhree isn't all that anyhow. If he was really strong enough to gimme a good fight, how'd you guys ever catch im?"

Jaco was afraid he'd ask that question. But as he'd learned from many years of experience, if the otherwise was starting to act smart, then you had to proportionally act dumber to get away with a fib!

"What are you talking about?" He let go of Goku's leg, smiling from ear to ear. "What gave you the idea we'd captured him before?"

"Before we left Earth you said we could nab some of the other convicts in the meantime. Doesn't that mean Seventhree is one of em too?"

 _Crap, I forgot about that..._ The realization was like the ice-cold bucket of water his fellow graduates from Galactic Patrol Academy poured on him in the middle of their graduation party all those years ago. But he had to think fast, because if Goku left, knowing his luck, Jaco would get the dispatch about Seventhree and miss his chance at nabbing the most wanted convict escaped from prison. That they knew of anyway.

If playing dumb wasn't the answer, then he'd have to use the other lesson he'd learned during his years on the force, just mostly tell the truth.

"Well, the thing with Seventhree is... He's a copy model."

"A what?" Goku tilted his head to the side, crossing his arms. "Copy model? He steals people's moves or somethin'?"

"Y'see, Seventhree was developed by a Professor Ufot years ago, he was designed with the intent of acquiring as much information as possible on the species of the galaxy. By getting a sample of your DNA, he could essentially become whoever or whatever he'd gotten the sample from. This data would then get transferred over the Professor and be used for all sorts of stuff, how to improve conditioning, cure illnesses, find out genetic defects, how techniques from one species could be learned by another... You following me so far?"

"I think so but wait... If this guy was supposed to be good, why'd he become a criminal?"

"Well, it turns out Professor Ufot made a little mistake... See, when he was designing how Seventhree would work, his intelligence, and all that tech stuff I don't really understand, he forgot to put in a morality programming for his invention. So, when the big science convention came and it was time to show off Seventhree for the first time, the robot acquired data alright... By any means necessary. Pretty soon, the whole space station was blown up but Seventhree already collected enough data to adapt and escape. Took us forever to finally beat him."

"How'd you pull it off?" Goku asked, leaning in-closer and sounding much more desirably interested in the deputy business again.

"Now, now, if I told you that, what'd be the fun in you beating him yourself?" Jaco said, looking away and feeling pretty damn good about that line.

Because the alternative would be dwelling on the truth and getting very, very depressed. Goku was right, the Galactic Patrol couldn't beat Seventhree conventionally after a certain point, so they had to use a trick. One member of the patrol who was deigned weak enough was picked to be the next symbol of the organization with a big marketing campaign push behind him. Promoting him as the most exciting man alive. A warrior of yet unseen skills and abilities. Just the kind of person Seventhree would take notice of, go after, and promptly mold himself into only to get his behind kicked before he could realize he'd lowered his power down.

There was no way in whatever Hell existed that Jaco would let Goku and the rest of them from Earth realize he'd gotten picked for this marketing stunt. He'd never hear the end of it, especially from Tights and Bulma.

"I guess yer right, okay Jaco, I'll stick around a little while longer. But this better start gettin' interesting soon."

And that was when the dispatch call came in, ringing from the inside of Jaco's vessel. When the Patrolman jumped inside to see what and who it was for, he almost believed Goku had prophetic abilities in his repertoire of skills.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, I've got the diapers, the baby powder,..." Vegeta mumbled the rest of his way through the shopping list given to him by Bulma. For the past hour, he scoured the West City Mall looking for every single item on it. A grueling task made all the worse by the fact just the mere act of walking around was a chore. The crowds were massive, slow, and endlessly irritating. The lines to buy anything at all stretched on for what seemed like an eternity. The whole place was having some mega sale with massive discounts in more than half of the stores and naturally, the Earthling's swarmed around it like bees to a hive.

Earlier that day, Bulma barged into the gravity chamber during a break, shoved the list into his chest, and told him to get a move on, Vegeta pointed out the obvious and asked why does someone as rich as her care about discounts. A bad move on his part since her response was to threaten to blow up the chamber if he didn't start pulling his weight around the house again. Something he'd admittedly gotten lax about since Bra was born and something he probably should've known would come back to bite him in the behind.

And so there he stood at one of the intersections of the mall with six bags in one hand, the crumpled letter in the other and a temper ready to explode at any moment if another blind moron decided to bump into him.

"Looks like I've just to get some cigars for her father," Vegeta said looking around for any place to buy them. The general store was out of the question, the horde was very concentrated there and just looking at the lines was enough to deter him away. The longer he looked around though, the horrifying realization he'd have to go there anyway became stronger and stronger.

That was until he spotted a tobacco shop, and not just any shop but one without a line there. Grinning from ear to ear that even some passers-by stopped in their tracks, Vegeta rushed forward, dodging the other shoppers without thinking about it. He very nearly reached his prey when a sensation stopped him dead in his tracks. It was an overwhelming, high-pressure power bursting out of nowhere but Vegeta had spent enough time in its presence to detect it anywhere.

"K-Kakarot?!" His head snapped to the ceiling, letting his ki sensing hone in on where exactly the energy was coming from. It was most definitely not Earth, hell, it wasn't even likely inside their solar system. For a reason Vegeta understood quite well, Kakarot had left the planet and gone off to fight against some opponent strong enough to warrant Super Saiyan Blue. An opponent he'd purposefully neglected to tell him about and hog it all for himself.

"T-That bastard..." Vegeta grit his teeth, fighting the urge to blast off into space and intervene before the fight ended without him. There was nothing for it: he had to get the damn cigars, deliver everything home and then bolt before Bulma decided she needed something else. It was a perfect plan until Vegeta looked back to the tobacco shop and saw a line already forming there. Not just any line, but one with thirteen people in it and growing by the second...

* * *

**Sometime earlier, somewhere very far away...**

"Looks like we got here in time, he's still wrecking the place." Jaco flew his ship toward what Goku could see was a giant alien city, about the size of a big town from Earth. The buildings there reached up high into the sky and they were curved into weird-looking, white-colored spirals. There must've been hundreds of them, probably even more and zipping through the air, he could see even more flying ships of all sorts of shapes and sizes buzzing around. Mostly away from the explosions going on what Goku guessed was this planet's east in a stretch of the city pretty close to a big yellow-ish ocean.

They spotted smoke rising from the planet all the way back in what Jaco called the upper atmosphere, it and the fires didn't get any smaller the closer they flew. But that was fine by Goku, it meant Seventhree was giving away his position and they wouldn't have to waste time trying to hunt him down.

"Alright!" He shouted, popping the hatch open. Jaco shrieked from his right side, wobbling the ship left and right. "Time fer some fun!"

"D-Don't do that! Do you have any idea how strong the wind when I fly this fast?!"

"Oops, sorry! I'll just get im outta town so we can fight, alright?"

"That's fine! Just try not to blow up the city by accident or something! The Galactic King'll have my ass-"

Unstrapping himself, Goku spotted where the newest explosion was happening and blasted off, pushing his flight to its limits. At least, without transforming that is. He zig-zagged in and out of the spiral buildings, avoiding them and incoming cars, lowering himself to just above ground level. In his peripheral vision, Goku caught a look at the weird, crab-looking people this city and probably the rest of the planet belonged to. They barely noticed him and the feeling was mutual, he only had eyes for the guy sticking out amidst the crowd.

Just like the rest of the escape crooks, Seventhree wore an orange jump-suit. His actual body was pretty Earthling-looking, two arms, two legs, just one head but there were big differences too. His skin, or whatever he had for skin, was a thick purple color, two big spikes stuck out the side of his head and his eyes were totally black. Goku kind of thought he looked like a meaner version of Hit.

The robot stood on top of some smoking car or trucks, opening laser fire from his eyes down onto the closest people. He was just about to gun down some small looking lobster folk, maybe kids, when Goku flew past his head, yanked him by the left horn and hoisted Seventhree off the ground. The robot tried to punch through Goku's grip and shoot him mid-flight but his attacks were too weak and slow respectively to do anything. Not a good sign.

That is what Goku through at first until Seventhree grabbed his hand just above the right wristband and a weird, electric jolt, the kind he hadn't felt since the last time he tried to fix the TV ran from there, up through his arm and made his brain spazz out. Before he even realized it, Seventhree managed to stop Goku's flight by turning on his own and used the built-up momentum to start spinning Goku around and around above the pee yellow ocean.

It whizzed past Goku's eyes as he flew away, leaving Seventhree as nothing more than a shrinking dot while he flew away from the sea and started smashing the back of his whole body against hard, canyon rocks. Goku smiled through it, spinning in-mid-air and landing on top of the rocks. This was much, much more like it.

He kept smiling even as he ducked under the overhead hammer strike swung by Seventhree teleporting behind him. Goku spun around with a sweeping kick which Seventhree flew away from. Goku counted on that and charged a one-handed Kamehameha, firing it and managing to nail the robot. The blue ki beam propelled him through the air and it didn't stop until a burst of yellow ki exploded out, overpowering Goku's attack.

Powering up into his own Super Saiyan, Goku's right hook met Seventhree's, the attacks so perfectly mirrored he could swear they'd practiced it a million times before. The same happened with his left punch, then right kick, left kick, headbutt, elbow strike, each and everyone pulled it off with the same level of applied force, speed, and precision.

"Looks like Jaco wasn't kiddin'" Goku shouted during the exchange of attacks, smiling from ear to ear. "Ya really can learn everythin' a guy can do!"

Seventhree said nothing, just looking on blankly which was pretty creepy with those eyes of his. But that was fine too, Goku didn't come there to yammer on. Switching gears to a move Piccolo used to dodge Kurilin way back when, Goku bent his body down to avoid the latest swing and nailed Seventhree in the chin with a kick. Then, he handled the power of a God through his Super Saiyan and activated Super Saiyan Blue mid-jump.

He zipped past and around the robot, flying around him in randomized patterns while moving in to punch, kick, knee, and elbow him all over the place with the constant build-up of speed and momentum. Just like before, Seventhree didn't let out a peep, even as all the hits started ripping away at his jumpsuit and taking chunks of his fake skin out, revealing metal and wiring running underneath.

If it was bothering him, Seventhree didn't show it. Wordlessly, a flash of blue came out of his eyes a second before his aura changed into the very same color. Goku's kick to the side of his head didn't make the robot budge even an inch, instead leaving him vulnerable to a punch in the gut. Goku immediately returned the favor by smacking the copycat across the face with the back of his knuckles.

"Kaio-Ken!" The follow-up attack was twice as strong and fast as the one just before it, causing the robot to spin through the air like a man-shaped yoyo. Goku grabbed hold of him from behind and immediately boosted the Kaio-Ken increase to a time fives and blasted off toward the ground, throwing Seventhree right into the canyon down below. The whole place transformed in less than a second, the massive jutting rocks were either sunk into the newly formed hole or exploded from the sheer force of the wind on impact.

Goku barely got a seconds rest before an elbow socked him precisely in the left air hard enough for him to lose almost all hearing in it. Seventhree's copy Kaio-Ken was already twice as strong as Goku's, forcing him into a times ten increase or else let more of himself get busted right away. Just like they did a little while ago, the two of them deadlocked one another in the sky, sending perfectly timed attack after perfectly timed attack.

Each one smashed away leftovers of the canyon around them, every strike seemed to make the crackle with thunder and lightning and every blow shaking the planet to pieces. And they didn't stop powering up, either. Times eleven, twelve, thirteen,... Until eventually, they landed on twenty. The power rushing through Goku was just as exhilarating as it was dangerous. Every muscle in his body was bulging enough to tear through his quickly ripping away shirt, every nerve was on fire from the strain and Goku had to keep it all under control in the thick of this flurry of blows. Even a second lack of concentration could make this combo of his backfire and leave his body annihilated.

His, but not Seventhree's. The robot, as always, showed no signs of fatigue or slowing down. Every hit was just as strong and as fast as the last. It didn't matter he was getting visibly banged up too, even one of his horns was punched off earlier by Goku. And he guessed that robot brain was probably pretty damn good at multitasking so there was no chance he'd let the Kaio-Ken backfire on him.

Slowly but surely, Goku's own attacks started getting sloppier, missing spots he would've hit before, his blocks and dodges leaving him with gradually growing scrapes and bruises when they shouldn't have. More and more, it was getting clear this alien robot had the same feature as 17 and 18 back on Earth: infinite energy. And with their strength levels exactly the same, it didn't take a genius to figure out Goku would eventually lose.

The thought annoyed and excited him all at the same time. But he'd try something first before possibly going down. A move Seventhree wouldn't be able to copy or see coming because Goku himself had never, ever tried it out before or even thought to do it.

Intentionally leaving himself open, Goku took another punch to the side of the face, feeling a bruise already swell on his left cheek and let himself get smashed back to ground level. Then, before the robot could fly toward him and keep the hand to hand contest going, Goku cupped both of his hands and put them on his right side.

"Ka... Ma..."

Silently, Seventhree landed on one of the few leftover solid pieces of ground and did the same, mirroring Goku perfectly again for what he hoped was the last time.

"Ha... Me..." Goku grit his teeth hard enough for his jaw to hurt. If fighting in an even brawl with a times twenty Kaio-Ken Super Saiyan Blue combo was hard enough, then this was hurting his head worse than the driving test studying he did with Gohan and Chi-Chi all those years ago. He could swear something in his brain was gonna pop at any second. Not only did he have to regulate the power he already had, but he also had to collect all of it into one spot all while focusing on another technique needing a couple of steps all on its own.

Opposite, standing about sixty feet away, Seventhree's own Kamehameha was just about ready to fire. Goku, feeling a vein or two pop on the side of his noggin, more or less got his move ready to go. This was it. His crazy stunt would either pay off or he'd blow himself up before Seventhree's attack ever got a chance to vaporize him first.

"... HHHHHAAAAAAAA...!"

Goku thrust his hands forward. So did Seventhree's, his beam jiggling back and forth for a second inside the condensed ball of red and blue ki, ready to burst and take out anyone stupid enough to be in its way. That's what it would have done if Goku tried to beat it beam versus beam in another war of attrition. He did no such thing. Instead, Goku's Kamehameha, at the climax of the arm thrust, vanished into thin air entirely.

But it didn't fizzle out or backfire on him like he worried it would, instead, the concentrated ball of ki did exactly what he wanted it to: it was teleported right under Seventhree's feet. The robot, showing some emotion for the first time, actually opened his mouth and stared at the attack a second before a gargantuan wave of blue and red ki swallowed him up so much he seemed to vanish inside it completely.

* * *

**A/N: Originally, I was going to do a U6 rewrite where Goku would pull off something like this, teleporting the Kamehameha attack itself at an enemy while he stayed where he was. Since this fic is never happening and I thought it was a cool idea that would fit in with Goku fighting a copycat who knows all his (current) skills, it's having a chance to shine here instead.**

**Next time, we see the aftermath of Goku's dangerous gambit. Did it succeed? Will Vegeta arrive in time to partake in the fun? And when the Hell will Moro show up?! You'll see in due time.**

**Author's Note:**

> And so begins my final Dragon Ball fanfiction. For those wondering, yes, this is a sequel to my last one An Empty Revenge which I highly recommend you read as it sets up certain things that get paid off here.


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